Virginia Puller, Widow Of Marine Corps Hero

NEWPORT NEWS — Virginia Montague Evans Puller, the widow of U.S. Marine Corps hero Lt. Gen. Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, died Saturday at her home in Saluda. She was 97.

A funeral service is scheduled for Saturday at Christ Church in Middlesex County, where her husband was buried 35 years ago.

Virginia Montague Evans was 29 when she married then-Marine Capt. Lewis Burwell Puller in Saluda. The new Mrs. Puller followed her husband while he served in China, Hawaii and across the United States.

During World War II and the Korean War, she returned to Saluda and raised their children -- Virginia and twins, Martha and Lewis Jr. -- while "Chesty" Puller burnished his reputation as a courageous Marine. During his military career, he earned the Navy Cross a record five times.

The Navy Cross is the corps' second-highest decoration behind the Medal of Honor.

After Puller's retirement from the Marine Corps in 1955, the couple settled in a house in Saluda near where Mrs. Puller grew up.

Lewis Burwell Puller died in 1971. The couple's son, Lewis Burwell Puller Jr., the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Fortunate Son," died in 1994.

Mrs. Puller is survived by her two daughters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.